Various different positive form-locked mechanical bearing support arrangements, as well as pressure-locked or frictionally-engaging mechanical bearing support arrangements of components on vibration dampers (also called vibration absorbers or shock absorbers), are known in the prior art for various different applications. In such known arrangements, it is possible to compensate for dimensional deviations or tolerances of the components, but generally only by installing properly fitted adjusting profiles or sections, for example shim plates or the like. Alternatively, it is necessary to use additional connecting elements with various different proper fitted sizes for achieving a compensation of dimensional deviations. Such dimensional deviations can be caused by construction tolerances and/or installation tolerances and/or system-necessitated tolerances of the materials used for producing the individual parts that are to be connected. It is also possible for such dimensional deviations to arise later due to material strain or deformation of the supported components and/or of the foundation or other supporting structure. Also, such dimensional deviations can be caused directly by the vibration dampers themselves.
Such conventionally known arrangements suffer several disadvantages. Due to the use of various separate loose pieces and parts for such bearing support arrangements, the installation thereof requires a greater installation space. Also, these connections or arrangements result in an increased total weight due to the additional parts necessary for the compensation of dimensional deviations. Furthermore, such connections are more expensive and more time consuming in the installation and assembly, due to the additional individual compensating parts.
Furthermore, it has been recognized that a vibration damper operates most effectively when the compression depth or the sink-in penetration of the supported component onto the damping element is in the optimum range of the damping characteristic of the vibration damper under the nominal rated load. In this context, it is necessary to adjust the support and damper arrangement to achieve such optimal effectiveness. For this, it would be useful to have a visual indication of the actual present compression depth or sink-in penetration depth of the damping element under any particular adjusted condition. However, the prior art has not provided any arrangements with such a visual indication of the damping element compression or sink-in depth. This is especially disadvantageous when the vibration damper is to be installed at a location that is difficult to access and/or visually inspect.
German Patent DE 41 41 850 has disclosed an arrangement of an elastic bearing element that supports a component relative to a foundation in a vibration absorbing or damping manner. This bearing element consists of a bearing underpart, a bearing cap, and an elastomeric block arranged between these two parts. A machine component that is to be supported, e.g. a motor or transmission support lug or foot according to the German Patent, is tightly clamped relative to the bearing cap. For this purpose, a central fixing screw is screwed into an intermediate part, which is supported against the bearing cap. A nut is provided for achieving the clamping. A height adjustment member, which is separated into a lower part and an upper part, is arranged between the component and the bearing cap. The upper part of the height adjustment member can be adjusted in its height relative to the lower part by means of turning, due to its screw thread. Thereby, the height adjustment member is formed by the lower part that is rigidly connected to the bearing cap and the upper part that is height adjustable by means of the threading relative to the lower part. These measures are necessary for the purpose, for example, of ensuring an alignment of a motor shaft with transmission parts, or the like.
In order to check or monitor the height position of the component in the prior art arrangement, the central fixing screw comprises a central bore through which a threaded bolt can be inserted. At its upper end, the threaded bolt comprises a screw cap and a self-locking hex nut for variably fixing or arresting the screw cap relative to the threaded bolt. Furthermore, the threaded bolt can be fixed or arrested in a prescribed position in the central bore of the central fixing screw by means of a fixing or arresting ball arrangement. Alternatively, it is also possible that the height adjustment member could be formed of so-called adjustment shim disks or plates, which are inserted between the bearing cap and the component that is to be supported.
The above described conventional bearing element uses an elastomeric block for absorbing and damping vibrations, whereby this elastomeric block and other parts of the arrangement will undergo deformation or settling over time during use. It is thus evident that an adjustment or compensation of the known bearing element will be necessary over time, to compensate for such settling processes. However, the prior art does not provide any suitable measuring devices or indicators for properly carrying out such a compensation. Thus, due to the functions of its parts, it is recognized that the conventional bearing element would hardly or not at all be suitable for compensating the arising dimensional deviations of a supported component in all three planes within a predefined adjusting range. To the contrary, any compensation is achieved only by means of a height adjustment on the bearing element, which is necessitated by a time-dependent sinking or compressive creeping of the elastomeric block, whereby a continued sinking or compressive creep of that blastomeric block will hardly be influenced.